Susan Dargan knows it will attract controversy. But the emotionally charged debate over the shooting of Trayvon Martin is one of the chief reasons she and other members of Framingham State University’s Committee on Diversity are hosting an event on campus to address the issue next Thursday.

Scott O'Connell/Daily News staff

Susan Dargan knows it will attract controversy. But the emotionally charged debate over the shooting of Trayvon Martin is one of the chief reasons she and other members of Framingham State University’s Committee on Diversity are hosting an event on campus to address the issue next Thursday.

“We’ll process what happened as a community,” the sociology professor said.

“The Ground We All Stand On,” which is not school-sponsored, will gather faculty, administrators and students to analyze the case, share their thoughts and, hopefully, according to officials, come to a better understanding of the “polarizing” incident.
In the month since George Zimmerman, 28, a neighborhood watch volunteer, shot and killed an unarmed Martin, 17, in a gated Florida community, students at Framingham State, like the rest of the country, have latched onto the story, and questioned some of its more troubling aspects, said sociology professor Virginia Rutter, who is also involved with the diversity committee.

“They’re smart enough to understand that the little bits of information they get on Facebook ... aren’t telling the whole story,” she said. “That there’s something (about it) that makes them uncomfortable.”

Framingham State senior Keyana Bell said next Thursday’s event will provide a needed forum to discuss the many elements of the Martin shooting.

“For me personally, the incident itself, and the issues surrounding it, have become such a major event,” said Bell, who is also a member of the diversity committee. “I don’t think it’s something you bring up in a casual conversation.”

Next Thursday’s event, which will take place at the Ecumenical Center, will specifically address some of the legal issues at the heart of the controversy, especially Florida’s “Stand Your Ground Law” that allowed Zimmerman, who claimed self-defense, to avoid any charges. Several experts, including Framingham State criminology professor Vincent Ferraro, as well as members of the Framingham police and campus police departments, will attempt to shed light on some of those issues at the meeting, Dargan said.

“Here in Massachusetts, we’re in a different place regarding guns and neighborhood watch groups,” she said, adding Florida’s unique law is “very scary” in some respects.

The event will also touch on race and racial profiling, which have also entered the national debate over the shooting.
“To a lot of people, it looks like an innocent kid was killed,” Dargan said. “I’m not saying those are the facts, but that’s how people are seeing it.”

But Dargan said people must also be careful not to jump to conclusions about a case that is still developing as more facts emerge.

“This is going to be an event where people will be encouraged to speak out, but we’re going to try hard not to frame the story,” she said, adding the “hysteria” and “rushing to judgment against the shooter is unfortunate.”

Dargan said the event has been “toned down” from what was described in an initial email to faculty that encouraged attendees to wear hoodies and alluded to the shooting as something that “appears to be ... state-sanctioned murder.”
“I do not believe that hoodies will be encouraged,” she said. “That email was prepared as a save the date email without the final structure in place for the event.”

The committee’s decision to hold a campus event addressing the incident “is not for the sensationalism,” Rutter said. Part of the intent of the meeting is to identify the known elements in the case, and avoid speculation, she added — “A ‘Just the facts, ma’am,” type of thing."

Framingham State has not issued any official statement on the Martin shooting — “We don’t have anything to say about it,” said external relations coordinator Dan Magazu.

But the school does allow groups to address contentious issues on campus.

“We hope it’s an enlightening, professional event ... nothing incendiary,” Magazu said. “One of the purposes of a colleges campus is to facilitate discussions, controversial or not.”

(Scott O’Connell can be reached at 508-626-4449 or soconnell@wickedlocal.com.)

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